Washing and sealing machine



April 27, 1965 J. MAHER, JR 3,180,068

WASHING AND SEALING MACHINE Filed April 12, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet l JeepM406 dQ.

A rroglvey April 27, 1965 J. MAHER, JR 3,180,058

WASHING AND SEALING MACHINE Filed April 12, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. I" mar M4149?) JQ. 7

A rrogwe'y United States Patent 3,180,068 WASHING AND SEALING MAC JerryMaker, In, Lancaster, Ohio assignor to Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation,Lancaster, Ohio, 2 corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 12, 1962, Ser. No.187,083 2 Claims. (Cl. 53167) The present invention relates to thesealing art and more particularly to a combined washing and sealingmachine in which the washing mechanism is an integral part of acontainer sealing mechanism whereby the containers are washedimmediately prior to the sealing operation.

In automatic sealing machines containers are sealed by closure caps,which may be of the screw type or' the press-on type. In prior sealingmachines, containers are moved from a packaging machine where they arefilled with a product to a container washing machine which washes thecontainers. Then the washed containers are placed in a sealing machine,at which time closure caps are applied thereto. Thereafter thecontainers may again be washed on a separate Washing mechanism. Thesealing machine is usually a separate machine and the containers arephysically moved from one machine to the other. This is a time consumingoperation and is impractical in fully automatic machinery.

The present invention overcomes these drawbacks and has for one of itsobjects the provision of an improved combined washing and sealingmachine whereby the containers are, washed immediately before or afterthe sealing operation without the necessity of moving them out of line.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedcombined washing and sealing machine which will eliminate the necessityof moving containers from one mechanism to another and which will wash acontainer in a continuous operation.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedcontainer washing mechanism which will wash the full circumference of acontainer as it moves.

past the washing mechanism.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedcontainer washing mechanism whereby the containers are rotated as theymove past the jar washing means.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedcontainer Washing mechanism which is integral with a sealing mechanism.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedcombined washing and sealing machine which is simple to operate andinexpensive to maintain.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the combined sealing and washingmechanism of the present invention in operation;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the improved combined washing and sealingmachine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detail of the washing mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3; and

3,180,068 Patented Apr. 27, 1965 FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspectivedetail showing the washing mechanism in operation.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the combined washing and sealing machine isdesignated generally by the reference numeral 1 and comprises ahorizontally disposed endless conveyor means 2 which receives filled andun- V sealed containers 3 at a loading point (not shown) and whichcarries the containers 3 past a washing mechanism, designated generallyby the reference numeral 4, which washes the containers and a sealingmechanism, designated generally by the reference number 5, which appliesa closure cap to the containers and discharges the containers 3 at adischarge station (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 2, the conveyor means 2 first carries the filledcontainers 3 to a suitable spacing mechanism which may be a helicoid orrotating screw 6. A bumper mechanism 7 is adapted to move the containers3 against the helicoid 6 in order'to permit them to be properly spaced.The containers 3 are then moved past a feeding star wheel 8 which feedsthem to a suitable guide 9 (shown in broken lines) which in turn directsthe containers 3 into pockets it) of a rotating turret 11. The pocketsit) are provided with rollers 14 to receive the containers 3 and permitthem to rotate, as will be more fully discussed hereinafter. The turret11 moves the containers 3 past the Washing mechanism 4 which washes thecontainers 3 and then past the sealing mechanism 5 which applies aclosure cap thereto. The sealed containers 3 are then moved to an exitguide 12 (shown in broken lines) and to an exit star wheel 13 whichmoves the sealed containers 3 to a discharge station.

As shown more fully in'FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, the washing mechanism 4comprises an elongated conduit or hose 15 mounted in a housing 16 whichis affixed to a plurality of brackets 17 extending from the frame 13 ofthe machine 1. The hose 15 has a plurality of openings 24 adapted toeject a washing fluid against the containers 3. The washing fluid issupplied to the hose 15 from a source (not shown) by a suitable conduit25.

The housing 16 comprises an upper wall 19, a lower wall 20 and a rearWall 21 to which the hose 15 is afiixed. The rear wall 21 has aplurality of bolts 22 extending therefrom and threadably mounted inbrackets 17 which permits the washer housing 16 to be adjusted relativeto containers 3 in the turret 11 and thus enables containers ofdifferent diameters to be washed by the same mechanism.

A plurality of resilient shoes 23, which are preferably made of rubber,are mounted on the lower wall 20 of the housing and extend therebeyondso that they bear against the containers 3 passing thereby. As thecontainers move through the washing mechanism 4 they strike the rubbershoes 23 which moves the containers snugly against rollers 14. Frictionpermits the containers 3 to rotate against the rollers 14 in the pockets10 of the turret 11. In the meantime, washing fluid is being ejectedthrough the openings 24 of the hose 15 against the containers 3 to washthe containers. Since the containers 3 are rotating and being bodilymoved past the washing mechanism 4, the complete outer periphery of thecontainers will be washed in a continuous operation.

After the containers 3 are thoroughly washed by the washing mechanism 4,the containers are moved to the sealing mechanism 5. The sealingmechanism 5 shown in this application is more fully described inco-pending application Serial No. 840,150 filed September 15, 1959, nowPatent No. 3,073,090. It will be understood that other sealingmechanisms may also be used and that the present invention is notlimited to the particular sealing mechanism shown.

The sealing mechanism is shown in detail in FIG. 1 and comprises aplurality of sealing heads 30 each having a a hood 31 mounted on itslower end with a pair of sealing chucks 32 depending therefrom andmounted within the hoods 31.

The sealing chucks 32 are adapted to receive closure caps 33 from asuitable closure feed (not shown) and to hold the closure caps in placeby any suitable means, such as, by a magnet (not shown) in the chucks32.

After the sealing heads 33 are positioned above the moving containers 3on the conveyor means'Z, the hoods 31 on the lower ends of the sealingheads 39 are lowered over the mouths of the containers 3 to permit theinjection of steam or an inert gas into the headspaces of the containers3 to form a vacuum or an inert atmosphere in the headspace of the sealedcontainers.

A roller 34 on the top of each of the sealing heads 39 cooperates with asealing cam 35 thereabove to lower the sealing chucks 32 of the sealingheads 30 so that the lugs or threads (not shown) on the closures 33engage the threads or lugs 36 (FIG. 4) on the containers 3.Simultaneously, the side walls ofeachof the containers 3 engage anelongated container rotating shoe 37 mounted outwardly of the turret 11.The shoe 37 engages each of the containers 3 and simultaneously holds itagainst the rollers 14 and causes the containers 3 to rotate about itsvertical axis due to the frictional engagement of the shoe 37 with theside walls of each container 3. The simultaneous lowering oi'rtheclosure caps 33 and the rotation of the containers 3 causes thecontainers 3 to be turned into sealing engagement with the closures toseal the containers to be sealed.

While the present invention has been described in connection with amachine for first washing the containers and thereafter applying a capthereto, it will be understood that it is within the scope of thepresent invention to provide a machine which first applies a closure capto' the containers and thereafter washes them.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improvedwashing mechanism whereby all the containers are washed in a continuousoperation immediately The invention having thus been described, it isclaimed:

1. A container handling mechanism comprising means for moving containersin an arcuate path, means along said arcuate path for first washingcontainers moving thereby, said washing means comprising a continuouselongated arcuate tube having a plurality of openings for directing awashing medium against containers passing thereby, said elongated tubebeing mounted in a housing movable relative to said container movingmeans in a radial direction, cap applying means along said arcuate pathfor applying closure caps to containers passing thereby, said capapplying means being adjacent to said washing means, said movablehousing being on one side of said path, a turret mounted to rotateadjacent said path on the other side thereof, said turret being providedwith a pair of rollers adapted to receive a container, a resilient shoeextending from said housing toward said path, said shoe being adapted tofrictionally engage a container passing thereby to cause it to rotate.

2. A container handling mechanism comprising means for moving containersin an arcuate path, means along said arcuate path for first washingcontainers moving thereby, said washing means comprising a continuouselongated arcuate tube having a plurality of openings for EeterencesCited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,543,280 2/51 Everett53-167 2,561,404 7/51 Nordquist 53-112 2,685,520 8/54 Martin 99-1822,867,957 1/59 Rohbogner 53-296 2,870,024- l/59 Martinv 99-182 3,018,1841/62 Martin 53-287 X 3,040,493 6/62 Wheaten 53-167 FOREIGN PATENTS354,932 8/31 Great Britain.

FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner. ROBERT A. LEIGHEY, Examiner.

1. A CONTAINER HANDLING MECHANISM COMPRISING MEANS FOR MOVING CONTAINERSIN AN ARCUATE PATH, MEANS ALONG SAID ARCUATE PATH FOR FIRST WASHINGCONTAINERS MOVING THEREBY, SAID WASHING MEANS COMPRISING A CONTINUOUSELONGATED ARCUATE TUBE HAVING A PLURALITY OF OPENINGS FOR DIRECTING AWASHING MEDIUM AGAINST CONTAINERS PASSING THEREBY, SAID ELONGATED TUBEBEING MOUNTED IN A HOUSING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID CONTAINER MOVINGMEANS IN A RADIAL DIRECTION, CAP APPLYING MEANS ALONG SAID ARCUATE PATHFOR APPLYING CLOSURE CAPS TO CONTAINERS PASSING THEREBY, SAID CAPAPPLYING MEANS BEING ADJACENT TO SAID WASHING MEANS, SAID MOVABLEHOUSING BEING ON ONE SIDE OF SAID PATH, A TURRET MOUNTED TO ROTATEADJACENT SAID PATH ON THE OTHER SIDE THEREOF, SAID TURRET BEING PROVIDEDWITH A PAIR OF ROLLERS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A CONTAINER, A RESILIENT SHOEEXTENDING FROM SAID HOUSING TOWARD SAID PATH, SAID